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Gaza Strip

(Encyclopedia)Gaza Strip gäzˈə [key], rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the ...

Aldrin, Buzz

(Encyclopedia)Aldrin, Buzz ôlˈdrĭn [key] (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.), 1930–, American astronaut, b. Montclair, N.J. After graduating from West Point (1951), Aldrin joined the U.S. air force and flew 66 combat m...

Pensacola

(Encyclopedia)Pensacola pĕnsəkōˈlə [key], city (1990 pop. 58,165), seat of Escambia co., extreme NW Fla., on Pensacola Bay; inc. 1822. It is a port of entry with a natural harbor and shipping and fishing indus...

Branson, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Branson, Sir Richard (Richard Charles Nicholas Branson), 1950–, British business mogul and adventurer. He left school at 16 to start his first business, the magazine Student. In 1970 he began a mail...

wind tunnel

(Encyclopedia)wind tunnel, apparatus for studying the interaction between a solid body and an airstream. A wind tunnel simulates the conditions of an aircraft in flight by causing a high-speed stream of air to flow...

seeing

(Encyclopedia)seeing, in astronomy, the clarity with which stars and other celestial objects can be observed. It is primarily determined by the atmosphere of the earth. The most obvious phenomenon is twinkling, whe...

Fuller, George

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, George, 1822–84, American portrait, figure, and landscape painter, b. Deerfield, Mass.; pupil of Henry K. Brown at Albany. He first practiced portraiture in Boston and later in New York City...

Merton, Robert King

(Encyclopedia)Merton, Robert King, 1910–2003, American sociologist, b. Philadelphia as Meyer Schkolnick, grad. Temple Univ. (A.B., 1931) and Harvard (M.A., 1932; Ph.D., 1936). From 1941 on he was a professor of s...

Parsons, Theophilus

(Encyclopedia)Parsons, Theophilus, 1750–1813, American jurist, b. Byfield, Mass. One of the leading lawyers in New England, he was an outstanding member of the Essex Junto, which opposed (1778) the state constitu...

Bowles, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Bowles, Samuel, 1797–1851, American newspaper editor, b. Hartford, Conn. He founded (1824) the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, a weekly. In 1844 it became a daily under the influence of his son, Sam...